Nutrition and Lifestyle Tips for Healthy Pregnancy

A baby's nutrition is almost entirely the responsibility of the mother hi I'm Rebecca Braden got the chance to speak with Nick Robinson about how to increase your odds of having a healthy baby now that you're pregnant what are some risks that moms need to be aware of 

well, there are a lot of risks going into pregnancy upwards of fifty percent of pregnancies and in miscarriage within the first trimester and then once you're past the first trimester and you're relatively comfortable with the safety of your pregnancy. 

There are all sorts of issues that can happen with the baby there's you know from fetal alcohol syndrome to low birth weight babies to deformities and birth defects and so on and so forth so there's a lot for a woman to be concerned about 

And the best thing you can do is can't prevent or guarantee that any of those things won't happen but what she can do is take charge of her pregnancy and be very proactive and do everything possible to give herself with best odds possible to have a healthy pregnancy. 

a healthy delivery and healthy baby are there any ways to help your odds well the most important piece is nutrition so you want to make sure that you're rested you keep stress low you want to make sure that you're exercising and you're moving and you're getting your body ready for a healthy delivery 

but nutrition is really the fundamental piece that you need to do now if you followed a specific diet while you are trying to conceive do you just continue that diet 

now that you're pregnant well a fertility diet is very similar to a pregnancy diet so you want to be during your pregnancy obviously so there are no cigarettes there's no alcohol there are no stimulants there are no chemical foods or packaged foods you want to avoid soy dairy gluten things that are allergens or inflammatory that can prevent your body from absorbing nutrients 

you want your body to be full of nutrients and proteins while you're pregnant there are some essential things that you need to look for in your foods though you need to make sure you're getting the calcium that you need for bone growth 

you need to make sure you're getting the protein that you need to get the amino acids your body needs to build living tissue you want to make sure that you're having omega-3 very important for development you want to make sure you having vitamin D and one of the most important ones are the B vitamins 

you want to make sure you're having a good supply of vitamins because that prevents neural issues now if you cheat and have a glass of wine or coffee will that affect your baby there's 

no known medication that you can take during your pregnancy if you have a headache you're on your own you have the flu you're on your own if you have some kind of infection you're usually on your own so if you can't put in any medication in your body 

you probably shouldn't be putting in any substances like alcohol or caffeine or stimulants in your body now besides morning sickness what other uncomfortable situations will a pregnant woman be in when you're pregnant little by little your baby takes up the space in your abdominal cavity 

where your other organs are your digestive tube your kidneys, your liver, your stomach, your pancreas, and all of those organs are actually slowly pushed up into your chest cavity which means that as you go along the digestive issues not only become present 

but multiply and become worse and worse so towards the end of your pregnancy if your digestion is really poor have a lot of water and start spacing out your meals making them smaller and more frequent during the day 

to help your body deal with the fact that all of your digestive systems are now compressed in your abdominal cavity now if you're trying to eat healthily but you're nauseous is there anything that you can do you can use that nausea actually as a guideline for putting in really safe foods into your mouth 

but if you're so nauseous you can't even stomach to have vegetables or good healthy foods and the only thing you can do is try to prevent nausea there are some things that you can do ginger, for example, is a great way to prevent nausea 

it's a natural anti-nausea the other thing you can do is take cinnamon also helped in some women to reduce nausea you can also take small bites small meals of blended starchy food like rice cakes rice crackers like corn cakes or corn tortillas things that are blended and will allow your stomach to calm itself down now 

what about food cravings what if you're craving unhealthy food there are all sorts of different cravings we all heard the pickle in the ice cream is not the healthiest combination but some things you know aren't so bad for you you have to remember though that if you can control your cravings and make better choices do so 

there are some cravings that are out of control some women actually develop a condition called pica if you've never heard of you guys a really odd disorder where pregnant women start to crave non-food things to eat like laundry detergent 

so if you're smelling your laundry detergent and all of a sudden you have a craving to take a bite out of it see your doctor you probably have pica now our prenatal vitamins are necessary 

supplements are not a substitute and so you should really look for a good vitamin supplement to make sure you're getting folic acid that you're getting the calcium you're getting vitamin B you're getting vitamin D you're getting calcium to look for a natural food source based vitamin are there any foods that moms need to avoid yeah there are some things 

that you were maybe okay when you were trying to get pregnant but now you definitely have to cut out from the first day of your pregnancy so you want to make sure that you're not having any raw eggs raw meats raw fish or anything that's undercooked 

the same thing with deli meats we want to make sure that you're not being exposed to bad bacteria that could harm your baby in utero the other thing you want to watch out for is no artificial sweeteners actually crossing the placenta barrier and there is no known amount that is safe for your baby if you see something on a label that has msg in it or yeast 

which is another name for msg is a neurotoxin you don't want to expose your baby in the womb to a neurotoxin some other things you should be avoiding to you or some of the fish that are high in mercury like sharks swordfish, tilefish and mackerel are fish you want to avoid completely 

during your pregnancy now can tuna fish is a pretty popular way of getting fish you can have canned tuna but maybe once a week not more than that but it's recommended to have a lot of different types of fish and seafood during your pregnancy to get a lot of the omega-3s so you can go ahead and have several 

portions of fish during the week just not from the ones we've just discussed are there any chores that mom should avoid doing well a lot of ways I might not go and start preparing the nursery so you should probably let someone else paint your nursery or varnish the floors are doing any of that stuff that would expose 

you to harsh chemicals probably want to stop cleaning with harsh chemicals as well if you have a cat or an animal in the house don't change the litter anymore get your spouse to do it you have a good excuse might as well use it to avoid the cat litter altogether that can cause some serious toxic reactions as 

well now is their natural weight gain that women need to be aware of absolutely so you want to make sure that you're gaining the right amount of weight so that your baby at birth is of a healthy birth weight if you're underweight you can gain from 30 to 50 pounds, in fact, some athletic women that just have 

low body fat but that isn't necessarily underweight should probably be looking at a much higher weight gain you will need fat for the baby's development but especially if you're going to be nursing afterward 

you will need a reserve of fat I know no one wants to have an extra reserve of fat and when you're pregnant the last thing you want is to feel fat but your body needs it and your baby will need it when it's nursing 

so you can be comfortable with the 30 to 50-pound weight gain if you're underweight now if you're a healthy weight 20 30 pounds is normal if you're overweight however I'm sad to say you probably have to look at a much lower weight gain 

you'll have to be really careful as you're going through your pregnancy not to put on a heavy weight gain because your baby will actually wind up being of a heavier birth weight so most recommended are between 10 and 20 pounds for overweight women do you want to leave pregnant women with 

any other advice takes charge of your pregnancy and does everything you can it's very empowering when you are in charge of your nutrition you're in charge your home you're in charge what you're exposed to and you will give your baby and your body the best odds to have a fantastic delivery and healthy baby thank you.